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Christian Wildberg

  • Andrew W. Mellon Professor
  • Department Chair

I am a historian specializing in ancient philosophical and scientific ideas, as well as the ways they have shaped and continue to influence our Western intellectual tradition. My primary research focus is the history of Platonism, but I also have strong interests in Pre-Platonic philosophy, moral philosophy, and Greek literature. I was educated at the Universities of Marburg and Cambridge (Ph.D., Classics, 1984). I first held a Junior Research Fellowship at Caius College, Cambridge, then briefly taught at UT Austin, and spent six years teaching at the Freie Universität Berlin. I am an emeritus professor of Classics at Princeton University, where I taught from 1996 to 2017. I also served as Master of Forbes College from 2006 to 2010 and as academic director of the Program in Hellenic Studies from 2010 to 2017.

My main publications focus on reconstructing and interpreting a sixth-century anti-Aristotelian treatise on the eternity of the world, written by the Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus, as well as the meaning and function of deities in Euripidean tragedies. Recently, I have edited volumes on various topics, including mysticism, Aristotle's cosmology, and the cult of Dionysus. My current research interests include the so-called “Presocratics” and the origins of Western philosophical thought, as well as the development and influence of ancient ideas about evil. I am working on a book that aims to deepen our understanding of Egyptian philosophical thought, as preserved in the enigmatic Corpus Hermeticum, and its significant influence in late antiquity. A new edition with translation and notes is scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press in 2026. Future projects include an introductory book on ancient Cynicism and a collaborative collection of articles on pre-Socratic philosophy.

I served for many years as co-editor of two monograph series, Philosophia Antiqua (Brill) and Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum (STAC, Mohr-Siebeck), as well as co-editor of APEIRON, an international journal for the history of science and philosophy. I also contributed to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Awards
Loeb Library Fellowship Grant, Harvard University, 2016
David A. Gardner '69 Grants, Princeton University, 2013-2014
250th Anniversary Award for the Improvement of Teaching, Princeton University, 2013
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2012-2013
Stanley Seeger Research Grant for Travel in Greece, Princeton University, 2007
Visiting Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University, 2004
Faculty Fellowship, Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University, 2001
Howard Fellowship, Brown University, 2000
Representative Publications

Books

Edited Volumes (published and in progress)

Selected Articles and Reviews

Research Interests

Ancient Philosophy and Science, Pre-Platonic philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, Greek Tragedy, Late Antiquity, Neo-Platonism, Hermetism in antiquity